Innovators unable to drum up support

Shaanxi Guard Agriculture Technology Ltd was founded in October to produce drones that can detect pests in fields. However, like many small startups, the company is struggling to find investors.

The company has produced prototype drones that photograph crops such as grapes and kiwi fruits to detect pests, thereby helping to improve yields and the quality of produce, but so far no one has offered the company any funding for the project. The drones are expected to retail at about 10,000 yuan ($1,480) each.

In large farms, it's difficult to detect pests, but the company's experiments have indicated that the drones, which use spectrum photography, can provide more accurate results than traditional monitoring via remote sensing.